Andre Fili, who trains with a bevy of UFC standouts at Team Alpha Male, made an impressive octagon debut with a second-round TKO of Jeremy Larsen.

The catchweight bout (Fili missed the featherweight limit) was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 166 event at Toyota Center in Houston. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and the pay-per-view main card.

Fili immediately established dominance in the cage by outstriking Larsen in a series of hard-swinging exchanges. Larsen tried to slow the action down through the clinch, but found no reprieve as Fili landed a series of knees that opened multiple cuts on his head.

With both the cageside doctor and referee looking on closely, Larsen briefly took the action down but could not even the score. He scarcely had a chance to get a takedown in the second before Fili landed a combination that sent him reeling to the cage and forced referee intervention at the 0:53 mark of the second round.

“I had so much to prove today,” Fili said. “I didn’t want to be the kid that came in and messed up by missing weight but I really wanted to make a statement. Next time I’ll be a lot more crisp. I hit him with a lot of harder shots, but he (Larsen) just kept coming at me. He is a super tough kid.”

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